Rich Dad, Poor Dad - What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That The Poor Do Not. Book review by yours truly

[PSTUBb 0]

It was 3 years ago. We were leaving Chapters (Bookstore in Canada, I don't know if it exists elsewhere) and I noticed on one of the tables a book someone had left there titled "Rich Dad, Poor Dad - What the Rich Tell Their Children About Money That the Poor Do Not". Not exactly being born in the richest of families, I was intrigued by what secrets might lie within this book. Secrets I would never learn unless I opened and read it's pages. I pointed the book out to my mom, she looked the price then put it back on the table. We left. I was kind of disapointed but I didn't mind.Fast forward a few weeks to christmas, it turns out my mom had decided to buy it for me anyways! I was excited. All of a sudden, new possibilities raced in my mind. What could possibly be held in this book that I didn't already know? I started to read it. The book, atleast for the first few chapters, was impossible to put down. The author starts by recounting a story of his childhood which takes you to the moment and reminds you of yourself at every turn.Robert grows up with 2 influences. On one hand, there is his own highly educated father who, despite his education, is fiscally unstable, and there is his friend's father, the 8th grade drop out multi-millionaire. After seeing that excellent education and a stable job aren't always the answer, he turns to his friend's father, his "Rich Dad" as he often refers to him, for help. Throughout the first few chapters you follow Robert and his friend as Rich Dad teaches them lessons about money in innovative ways as opposed to standard classroom style teaching.It is in my opinion a very well written book, and although the author sometimes takes a painfully long time to make a point, the information you gain is great, but even better imo is the motivation you get. You realise that YOU CAN become rich. It's not just the lucky or the genius or the ones born into richness who get to be rich. This book gives you a hint on how to start your own journey towards riches if that is what you desire.While the general ideas on how to start are quite vague, Kyosaki does leave a recommended reading list at the end of the book, and there are further realeses by the author under the same Rich Dad Poor Dad series which delve deeper into certain topics and systems.When you first finish the book, you feel motivated, encouraged, ready to plow through everything. You really feel like you can do it. The problem is that once the cloud you're sitting on starts to fade a little, you realise that you don't know where to start. The author does leave some starting points but none of them really applied to me, as I was only 14. Then again, it's hard to start making money at 14 years old with 400$ to start off Wether this book will serve me in the future or not, I owe my desire and my motivation to become successful to this one book. This one book showed me a whole new world I might have never even glimpsed had I not read it. There's a whole new section in the book store I'd never even visited before!My suggestion: If not this book, get A book, get knowledge, learn that YOU TOO have the power to become successful no matter where you are right now, as long as you think first, put your money to work for you instead of working for your money and learn from your failures. Keep on plowing, for great success usually comes after apparent defeat.Good luck!SeanWritten specifically for Xisto.com

[Watermonkey 0]

I have to admit I felt the same way after reading one of those rich dad poor dad books, I don't recall which now, but it's since been revealed that his story is a lie. He never had a "rich dad" as he describes in the book and I don't believe he even lived in HI as he also claims. His advice on real estate investing to make money is very poor advice in this day and age and I believe he also claims that your mortgage is a liability. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I've heard other economic advisers who say take your assets out of the banks and put it into gold, silver, real-estate (not as an investment, but as a safe-haven) or somewhere where it can't loose value as the dollar has! People think the stock market has been on a bull run since old man Bush Sr. left office, I say it's been a bear from hell all that time! Why? No one ever compares the buying power of a dollar in 1980 to the buying power of that dollar today. In terms of what a dollar is worth, the market has been loosing ground for many years! Gold, on the other hand, has gained, though not as much as it would appear for the very same reasons. What do you need when you retire and no longer need or want to work? You need to keep up with the cost of keeping your property in ever increasing property tax hikes, you need to be able to afford home maintenance and repairs, transportation and food/clothing. There is a real need to have a good retirement income and it can be quite tricky to build it when you're working when you don't know what the dollar is going to be worth in 30 or 40 years. One thing is for certain, buying silver and gold now along with a good safe anchored to the concrete foundation of your home is one of the very best things you can do with your assets. Gold is a real, rare commodity and an ounce should always be able to provide you with a formal suite of clothes and maybe a nice meal to boot. A hundred pounds of that bright shiny metal should be able to provide you with a very nice country home on acreage with a stream running through it (or a cardboard box on asphalt in some cities where the real estate market is way out of control). For a real good read, look for The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. I've gained most of my financial habits from this book. And, not to brag, but I'm proud to say my credit score is around 813.

[HyBriD54 0]

Hmm . . . I?ve never actually heard of the whole RDPD story being a fake. It said in the publishing info that some events had been purposely altered or something, but not that the large majority was untrue. I.E. I assumed that while some aspects would be untrue, like the casting-nickels-out-of-toothpaste-caps thing, the majority would still be true, as in he actually did live in Hawaii.But meh. I read the book a while ago and thought . . . well, it?s good if you want to change your mindset about money, but not so great on the practical side. The vast majority of the book is dedicated to changing someone?s thinking about the concept of money and all. Not much practical stuff ? all it says on that front is basically just buy investments to get rich.